Peter Fritsch, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research / Director of the Herbarium

Peter Fritsch Reporting on Field Research in the Philippines

June 28, 2019

The first expedition to the Philippines has been going splendidly, with many hundreds of collections, photographs, DNA samples, and associated field data being collected by the team. The four areas to be surveyed are Mount Marilog, Mount Limbawon, and Mount Hamiguitan, all on the island of Mindanao, and several peaks on Camiguin Island just off the north coast of Mindanao.

A Brand New Wintergreen (Plant, Not Gum)

BRIT’s new Herbarium Director Dr. Peter Fritsch and his Chinese colleagues published an exciting new species discovery in October: Gaultheria gonggashanensis , in the wintergreen genus of the heath family (Ericaceae). The species is named for its unique home on the slopes of spectacular Mt. Gongga in western Sichuan Province, China. Peter and his colleagues knew of the existence of this species from two herbarium specimens collected in 1941 and 1980 by Chinese botanists, but no one, including them, clearly understood that these specimens represented an undescribed species because the specimens were only in fruit, whereas flowers were needed for positive identification. So in September of 2011, Peter and his colleagues traveled to Mt. Gongga, the place where they suspected that the plant wa...

Grey Fox: Exploring an Ancient Maya Center

BRIT researcher associates and colleagues work with the Maya Research Program's Blue Creek Archaeological Project to investigate the flora in far northwestern Belize. The "Grey Fox" site is one of only four Maya plaza-pyramid centers remaining in northwestern Belize.